Latest library news

A further update on the Eli Simpson Archive

Further to the piece below by Dave Checkley (12th
February 2009), we are pleased to announce that the Gaping Gill volume of the Eli Simpson Archive
has been digitised by the British Geological Survey, and is available on-line on the
BCRA Archives Web Site.

Bob McIntosh, Alan Jeffreys, and John Manchip are
steadily digitising the rest of the volumes, and the progress so far may be
viewed here.

Webmaster
Updated 2nd January 2017

Caving Collection Registry

Over time, the British Caving Library has been given a
number of collections of caving material belonging to once active cavers. We will catalogue it all
over time, and provide online access to some of it. However, it dawned on us that it was difficult
for researchers and cavers to know what material does exist and is available. A lot of similar
collections have also found good homes in caving club libraries, county record offices, museums, and
various archives, and we don't want the caving world to forget about them.

We have, therefore, started off an embryonic online
registry of UK caving collections, which may be found
here.

It is embryonic in that there are a lot of collections
out there which we have not identified, and the accuracy of some of the information currently
provided is suspect. Thus, there is an assumption that the original material made available on the
MCRA website is held by
the MCRA - which we know
is not the case.

We would, therefore, welcome additions and corrections
to the register so that it can become a genuinely useful resource. An email address is provide on
the page.

Finally - a plea. If you know of a collection that has
not found a good home where it can become available, please find a good home for it and let us know
where it may be found. The BCL is
a willing recipient.

Webmaster
12th January 2016

All material now available from Glutton Bridge Library

The old
BCRA library material
has now been removed altogether from the Local Studies Library at Matlock and has been transferred
to the British Caving Library (BCL) at
Glutton Bridge.
So BCRA's connection
with Matlock has now ceased and our thanks go to the staff at the Local Studies Library who have
looked after the BCRA
material since 1980 and have made it available to cavers.

As the old
BCRA Library is being
merged with more recent material to become
BCL it has become essential to
re-catalogue all our holdings of books, periodicals, surveys, etc. and this is being done as fast
as we can. In the process we are finding duplicates of some items, which we are happy to give away
in return for a donation - many cavers will have acquired some of these items from our "lucky dip"
boxes at Hidden Earth 2010 and there will be more at
Hidden Earth 2011.
As we work through, more duplicates are coming to light and we would like to offer these to caving
club libraries which need them to increase their own stock, so if you are a Club Librarian, please
contact us. Eventually the more valuable duplicate items will go on sale with the proceeds going to
buy more items for BCL.

We are grateful to those cavers who have recently donated their
personal holdings to BCL - in the
process some extremely interesting and unique items have come to light.

We are happy to receive visitors at at the Glutton Bridge premises
but you do need to let us know in advance as the Library is not staffed full-time, though we can
make arrangements for you to visit at any time best suited to you. We also welcome volunteers to
help with our work so, if you are interested, please contact us.

Jenny Potts
22nd June 2011

Consolidation of the Glutton Bridge and Matlock Libraries

We have been informed by the Librarian at Derbyshire Local Studies
Library that following a reorganisation they are no longer able to accommodate that part of the
BCRA Library which is
currently housed in Matlock.

With this in mind, steps are afoot to move the material from Matlock
to Glutton
Bridge. This will result in the entire British Caving Library being on one site making its
management much easier.

Jenny Potts
6th April 2010

Appointment of Senior Assistant Librarian

We are pleased to announce that Mary Wilde has accepted the
appointment of Senior Assistant Librarian, based in the
Glutton
Bridge premises. Mary took over at the end of December from Janet Nash, who helped us to
establish the new régime. Mary's position is part-time

Jenny Potts
6th April 2010

Caving Audio Archives

We have added a Caving Audio Archives to the website, which may be
visited here.

There are currently 223
interviews given by 78 interviewees, lasting over
34¼ hours. The interviewees include such notable cavers as
Herbert Balch, Eric Hensler, Bob Leakey, and Ken Pearce. None of the interviews last for more than
15 minutes.

More recordings are steadily being added from a stockpile, but many
more are required!

The recordings are held in
MP3
format, and are available from both embedded technology and as downloadable files.

The playback facility requires
JavaScript
to be enabled in your browser, and if your browser does not support the
HTML5 <audio> tag,
the playback technology will use an
Adobe Flash
MP3 player, and hence will requires the Adobe Flash
plugin
to be installed on your browser. If this is inconvenient, you can download the MP3 files and play them offline.

We hope that you enjoy the recordings, and we very much look forward
to your feedback as well as your contributions.

Webmaster
19th February 2009
Updated: 1st March 2013

An update on the British Caving Archive from Dave Checkley

Perhaps it is appropriate right at the start to make
clear the nature of the archive. The archive includes all the original, unique data: the typed or
hand written notes, the original surveys, the photographs and the negatives, for the exploration of
British caves. It does not include any published material. Published material, however old, is for
the library. We are fortunate in finding amongst the boxed library material many of the original
record books, dating back to the 1930s, prepared by members of British caving's first national body,
the British Speleological Association (BSA). These books are to form the core, of what we hope will
develop into the National Caving Archive.
BCRA
and the
BGS see this as the start of a
unique, living record of cave exploration in Britain.

As a first step agreement has been reached with the
British Geological Survey (on the terms of transfer of the archive material to secure, temperature
and humidity controlled storage, at their site in Keyworth, Nottingham. Given concerns of potential
donors to the archive and possible issues around ownership, the transfer will be made on the basis
of "indefinite transfer", without transfer of ownership. David Checkley and David Judson hope to
shortly sign the Terms of Deposit and Memorandum of Understanding forms, on behalf of
BCRA Council. Members
of the BGS will also sign
these forms.

Dave Judson has completed the process of archiving (creating a
special type of page by page catalogue) for the majority of the early
BSA record books. This
has been a painstaking labour of love, listing the contents of these fascinating books. The archive
material will be available on line, on the
BGS website,
www.bgs.ac.uk. So for the
first time cavers and the public will know the contents of these historic documents. They will also
be able to access the archive record books, for reference, in the
BGS library five days a
week.

The program of future activities being planned with the
BGS, includes the
following:

Continued archiving by
BCRA volunteers, of
surveys and photographs currently in storage at Glutton Bridge. Once archived they will be
transferred to the BGS.

Transfer of the record books from Dave Judson's house to Glutton Bridge, for a publicity event
to mark the start of the British Caving Archive.

Transfer of this material to the
BGS for a possible further
publicity event.

Establishment of the British Caving Archive website as part of the
BGS website.

Continued work on the joint application for funding to the Heritage Lottery Fund. This funding
will be used to digitise key elements of the record books, photographs and surveys and make them
available to the public, on the British Caving Archive website.

Continued publicity by
BCRA and the
BGS to promote the British
Caving Archive.

I hope this gives a clear picture of where we are now and where we
are going to, with the start of the British Caving Archive. We hope this will provide safe and
protective storage for valuable historic material. We aim to make this material available to the
public, for reference and on line, so that all of us can enjoy the fascinating stories of the
exploration of British caves.

Dave Checkley
12th February 2009

Latest developments on the library front

The process of cataloguing all the material in the library is now
nearing completion and is accessible from the
online catalogue.
Because the website and catalogue have only just become available, we welcome any feedback. Please
let us have your views by contacting the librarian via the contact below.

In the process of opening hundreds of boxes of previous uncatalogued
books and journals, we have found many early records of caving in Britain. This material is fragile
and much of it has never been published. We are hoping that it will form the nucleus of the National
Caving Archive that will be housed in the British Geological Survey (BGS) headquarters in Keyworth,
and will in time become available on the web. There will be a link
to the BGS archive as soon as
this becomes possible.

Donations to the library are always welcome, so if you have new or
old caving literature that you wish to donate, please contact the librarian.